In imposing the sentence, Erie County, New York Judge Thomas Franczyk also issued a protection order on behalf of Hassan’s two children who, according to the Judge, want nothing more to do with their father.

The sentence was the maximum amount Franczyk could impose under state law, said Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita. He said the sentence was “a perfectly appropriate sentence under the circumstances and considering the violent nature of the crime and a lack of genuine remorse by the defendant.”

The sentence basically means life, he said — Hassan will not be “eligible to talk to the parole board” for 25 years. “The chances of him getting out before his sentence is completed is not going to happen,” Sedita said. […]

According to prosecutors, Aasiya Hassan had filed for divorce less than a week before she died. […]

During the trial, Michael and Sonia Hassan testified that their father had become violent in the past, CNN affiliate WIVB in Buffalo reported.
While both said the couple argued, neither recalled a case in which Aasiya — their stepmother — instigated a fight.

Police earlier said they had responded to several domestic violence calls at the couple’s home, but no one had ever been arrested.

In 2004 Hassan launched Bridges TV, billed as the first English-language cable channel targeting Muslims inside the United States. At the time Hassan said he hoped the network would balance negative portrayals of Muslims following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

(CNN) — After a three-week trial and one hour of deliberations, an upstate New York jury on Monday found Muzzammil “Mo” Hassan guilty of second-degree murder for beheading his wife.

In February 2009, Hassan, who founded a TV network aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes, went to a police station in the Buffalo, New York, suburb of Orchard Park and told officers his wife was dead, police have said.

Aasiya Hassan had been decapitated, with prosecutor Paul Bonanno saying during opening arguments that the long knife used by her husband had left marks on his office’s tile floor.
[…]

According to prosecutors, Aasiya Hassan had filed for divorce less than a week before she died.
[…]

During the trial, Michael and Sonia Hassan testified that their father had become violent in the past, CNN affiliate WIVB in Buffalo reported.

While both said the couple argued, neither recalled a case in which Aasiya — their stepmother — instigated a fight.

Police earlier said they had responded to several domestic violence calls at the couple’s home, but no one had ever been arrested.

Hassan was the chief executive officer of the network Bridges TV, and Aasiya Hassan was the general manager.

He launched Bridges TV, billed as the first English-language cable channel targeting Muslims inside the United States, in 2004. At the time, Hassan said he hoped the network would balance negative portrayals of Muslims following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
[…more…]

A woman convicted of shooting and killing her husband after allegedly suffering years of abuse wants women to know they can get help without resorting to violence.

Women are sometimes “hesitant to speak out and ask for help,” Mary Winkler told NBC’s “Today” show this morning. But, she said, “someone will believe you.”

Winkler, who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the March 2006 killing of her preacher husband, Matthew Winkler, served less than a year behind bars. Just two years later, in 2008, she regained full custody of her three daughters. But the Tennessee woman said justice was served.

“I felt like it was a very fair verdict,” she said. That’s because Winkler, 36, says her husband raped and abused her for years before she finally snapped and shot him in the back while he slept. [Read more...]